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Changing Seasons : July 2019

It has been a busy month both in the garden and socially. The beautiful Snowflake bush, after almost 4 months, has finally stopped flowering. Now it was time for it’s drastic prune. Every year it is pruned well back as it is such a prolific grower. july garden art retreat tyalgum 033_5184x3888The cuttings are all mulched and added to the ever growing pile of compost. (take note of the scruffy lawn!)july garden art retreat tyalgum 037_4114x2958Now I can see through to the rest of the garden.

In the first week of July we had 22mm of rain, what a relief, as the second week we were going away to the beautiful Tyalgum valley to an art retreat. Leaving the garden and all the pots and vegetables to care for themselves.6329f5f5-015e-4d4f-b027-d227e53d4336[1]Since the last 2 art get aways ( Grafton in April and Alice Springs last year) I have become hooked on this style of art learning. This week was even better, with a friendly and enthusiastic group of artists. Fantastic food and well organised. This is breakfast buffet each morning.tyalgum art retreat 0905ea18d36-1a4f-4a72-afda-e5840c716a01[1]Extremely talented artists, Barry and Lucy McCann, to teach and guide us as we all produced our works of art. These are mine…

It was then back home and into the next stage of our garden make-over.

We have decided to get rid of the lawn, so first job was to lay weed mat.july garden art retreat tyalgum 096_5184x3888Then 5 cubic metres of coarse cedar bark chips is delivered. That is a daunting heap…july garden art retreat tyalgum 116_5184x3888But over the next 3 days we steadily spread it around. Finally, yesterday it was mission accomplished…july garden art retreat tyalgum 119_5184x3888

Watch this space we have plenty of other plans…

So how did the rest of the garden go while we were away.

The back garden veggie plot is looking abundant, the tomatoes, notice they are planted in rubbish bins, are well on the way to supplying tomatoes and we have already eaten one of the Lebanese Cucumbers. Plenty of herbs and more silver beet, spinach and radishes than I can keep up with. Carrot seeds have just emerged and bok choy, capsicum, lettuce and chillies are waiting their turn to be planted out.

In the flower department spring is definitely in the air as the azaleas burst into flower. Jack takes time to meditate as his small, quirky blues band watch on.

Here are some of the other flowers showing their colours at the moment

There has been no more rain this month, so with just a total of 22mm in the first week, I am now having to water the pots and garden beds every second day.

As usual the month has raced by. One more month of winter, then it will be spring and with the incredibly hot summer in the northern hemisphere I wonder what is in store for us.

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 I’m so pleased Su of “Zimmerbitch” runs this “Changing Seasons” challenge as it prompts me to try and keep a record of each month. I can go back to last year and see what was happening 12 months ago.

54 comments

    • It has been an active month, but like to get as much done as possible in the garden before summer strikes. I shudder to think what this year will bring as we usually follow the northern hemisphere trend. All the veggies are doing so well at the moment, but come summer I will not be growing any veggies, just back to annuals or maybe even just a cover crop….

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    • It was a marvellous few days and a bonus was we made some new friends that live near us. So are keeping in touch. I’m hooked on these art courses now. One person in the group said he had been to 50 of them😳 …..

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      • Wow, that’s like people who have done the Camino numerous times, but 50!?? I’m sure they cost something so it can’t be cheap. I would love to go on something like that myself. But I need to improve my skills first. It was nice taking that drawing class last winter because it forced me to draw, but I must admit I haven’t done much since! I think it would be a lot more fun on a retreat. 🙂

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    • I’m really pleased with the chip. Definitely a bonus with no lawn to mow or water, and I had t thought of the snake deterrent. Looking at another art weekend in November near Eumundi🙄

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  7. Your paintings are fabulous! You and Jack have so much talent. And loving the garden. I’m still pondering about what to do with the rest of my lawn. Your golden bark chippings are so much nicer than the dark bark we get here.

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    • Gardens, as you know, are on going and always changing. I was surprised to look back and see it is now a year since we chopped down the palms and let so much more light in. I’m pleased with the result. We have all different colour bark over here. Even bright red. But this bark will eventually go darker. I love the smell of it.

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      • I wouldn’t be keen on the red, but I do like the golden colour. Interesting to see you have simply covered the grass with membrane. I dug all mine out before laying the weed membrane! I could have saved myself a lot of work!

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        • Yes the weed mat should stop the grass and weeds coming through and we have put a thick layer of bark down too. We did it to other parts of the garden nearly 20 years ago and there hasn’t been any weed problems. We did dig out all the grass and weeds in the borders though and used cardboard as an under cover in those beds.

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  9. Your paintings are lovely Pauline, and I am awed by the seasonal variations (and sometimes transformations) of your gargen. Hope you get a bit more rain though. It’s been a dry winter here too.

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  17. Wow, your vegetables are so far along. That is a guess of course. I really do not know how your seasons work there. I can only compare it to six month ago or in the future, which would be the beginning of February.

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        • G’day tony good to hear from you. We rely on dam water and they rely on rain which as you know is not reliable. So more people mean we need more rain to top up dams. Further south west there is terrible drought and the dams are predicted to be empty by December, with heavy restrictions on water usage. We are, so far, ok. But this month is very dry at the moment

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          • Oh, I know how that goes. It just seems odd that there is so much new construction there, and so many moving into the area, while water is still a concern. I like to think that sort of thing happens only in California.

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    • I’m finding that getting rid of the grass certainly makes the garden look larger, tidier and easier to care for. With spring in the air now the garden is starting to burst into colour

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  19. It’s so nice to come together with a group of like minded folks and be CREATIVE. Enjoyed the snaps from the garden. We live in an apt so we do what we can with the deck space, but there’s nothing like having earth between your feet.

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    • G’day Lani, I do really love my garden and like to share it every month on “changing seasons”. Spring is almost here and all the annuals are starting to flower. It should be a colourful blog this month.

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  20. Lovely to see your garden Pauline. Your veggie plot is inspiring and has given me ideas. Too early for tomatoes here in Tassie though. I wish you could have some of our rain.

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